Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

Stressed plants sonically represent their state

  • One study has shown that the sound emitted by stressed tomato and tobacco plants spreads through the air and can be detected within a meter. According to the journal Cell, dried plants or cut stems emit sounds of volume similar to that of human conversation.

31 March 2023 - 07:06

People are not able to hear these sounds, because their frequency is too high for people, but researchers say other mammals and insects are very likely to hear them and probably other plants as well.

Sound emitted by stressed plants, decreasing frequency, so humans can hear it. Kaith et al. CC BY-SA

It was already known that plants emit ultrasonic waves. They have now demonstrated for the first time that these waves are airborne. Given that the sounds emitted by animals are also spread in this way, researchers believe there will be some communication between species.

In the experiment, they recorded healthy, stressed plants, in a soundproofed chamber, and in a noisier greenhouse. They caused two types of stress: some are not watered and others cut stems. Later, recordings of each other were compared using an machine learning algorithm. So they saw that healthy plants are very quiet. On the contrary, those with water scarcity started issuing a few clicks that reached the maximum of acoustic signals on day 5. From then on, they gradually silenced until they became quiet when they dried completely.

The algorithm is able to distinguish between the sound emitted by dried plants and that of cut stems, as well as whether the plant is tomato or tobacco. They also received sounds from other plants, but they still don't know exactly how they produce the sounds. They believe it can be through the bubbles that form in the vascular system of plants, but they accept that they have to continue to investigate to clarify it. In addition, they consider it interesting to investigate interspecies communication and how to use this information in agriculture.


You are interested in the channel: Landareak
Readings for this year
At the beginning of the new year, we seem to be renewing our ideas, and some of us make lists of tasks to be carried out. One of those tasks is the list of books that I have to read, an increasingly fatter list. Not a few of you have asked me what I read, so I thought I would... [+]

2025-01-20 | Jakoba Errekondo
Basque Country banana republic
I know two friends who have never eaten a banana, a self. But people are in favour of separation. Banana is a genus of plants originated in Africa and Asia (Musa x paradisiaca), but today in America it is also done a lot. The largest producer is India and the main exporter is... [+]

2025-01-20 | Garazi Zabaleta
Per unit
"Ours is a test space for regenerative agriculture and for collective projects"
In order to train us in agriculture and to test oneself in production and marketing before starting your own projects, several agricultural test points are already in place. In Álava, the Centro de Test Agrícola de Alea was launched in 2023, but, compared to most similar... [+]

2025-01-20 | Iñaki Sanz-Azkue
A frog that loves the cold
The leaves of the trees have fallen and the soil of the forest is covered. However, between the earth and the red leaves there is a thin layer that receives little attention, but which can be of great importance for the survival of many species. It maintains moisture, attracts... [+]

Forest plantation with native species begins on Sunday in Arrankudiaga-Zollo
The owner of the plot has signed an agreement with the Lurgaia Foundation and the environmental group Sagarrak has made an appeal to join the plantation. The students of the Zaraobe Institute worked on Tuesday in tree planting.

2025-01-13 | Garazi Zabaleta
Caserío Urteaga-Urkulegi
Vegetables, fruits and meat, diversification as the basis of production
Urteaga and Urkulegi are two neighbouring villages of Itsaso (Gipuzkoa), which joined together years ago and launched a joint project. “We put the two houses together and started the production project, and since 2011 I have been working with total dedication,” explains... [+]

2025-01-13 | Jakoba Errekondo
Do not smell
The nose tells the truth. It's hard to fool your nose. You can't avoid smell. The exciting, exciting, exciting study of the pathway of nasal connection to the brain is for many researchers. If the bridge between smell and memory is not the fastest, it is one of the fastest. An... [+]

Bagera, we too, always happy... the angle not so much.
When 180 million years ago the continent of Pangea dismembered, the eel had learned to cross the Sea of Thetis. Since then, the continents have been moving and differentiating eel species. Among the 20 species of eel that have distinguished themselves from their original... [+]

2025-01-08 | Garazi Zabaleta
Aina Socies Fiol
"In each island of the Balearic Islands there are many varieties of plants that do not exist in the others"
Many of them will join the Balearic Islands only with Oporleku, but on the island of Mallorca they have a living movement around agroecology and consumption: The Associació de Varietats Locals de Mallorca (association of local seed varieties) is an example of this. In early... [+]

2025-01-08 | Nicolas Goñi
How do you turn soils into weather aids?
Extreme drought and rainfall have become a new norm. Among the increasing economic and ecosystem damages, those sustained by cultivation are not the lowest. These are soils that desiccate in times of drought or that cannot absorb all the water in large rains. How to become part... [+]

2025-01-06 | Nagore Zaldua
Cantabrian calm
Works of art of the warning
Colorful, bright, in shapes as strange as beautiful, nudibranchs seem to be coming beings from another planet. These naked creatures of the seabed dress the vivid colors of the crests of the 1980s and the architectural fashion of the great names of the Parisian seam.

2025-01-06 | Garazi Zabaleta
Trebatu Association
Project to boost relief in the primary sector in Gipuzkoa
The Trebatu association has been in operation for years in Ipar Euskal Herria, with the objective that those people who want to start this project can be trained beforehand. Taking as a model the project of Ipar Euskal Herria and pulling the same idea, in Gipuzkoa the... [+]

2025-01-06 | Jakoba Errekondo
The need to live with each other
A Chilean friend has told me a story about his village and left me a mouth full of implants. It is from a plant there known as “quintral”, Tristerix corimbosus. It lives in the warm forests of southern Chile and Argentina, and the plant is very similar to the tongue (Viscum... [+]

January, the dream of the walnut
I painted with purple color the first month of the year, with the color of creativity, imagination, knowledge and spirituality.

2024-12-27 | Leire Ibar
The success of the champagne industry is based on exploited labour
The Guardian newspaper analysed the situation of migrants working in the champan industry in Épernay, France. The study reveals the precarious and illegal conditions of those working in vineyards of luxury mushroom brands.

Eguneraketa berriak daude